I can't upload anymore pictures onto this thread I think, since it says "sorry, the board attachment quota has been reached". I don't want to spam up the site with all of these pictures. Maybe I'll start up a facebook page for the collection and have all the pictures on there.

Luke wrote:Feel free to keep posting your images, I've adjusted the settings and you should be able to post more.

They look great!

Thanks we appreciate it greatly! I'll post some more up here soon, but probably not as many as I got all of what I took on the facebook page now. It takes a long time uploading a bunch of pictures on here lol. By chance did anything intrigue you that you may have seen on here? Just curious as to see what people are drawn to.

Since you've given us a link on Facebook with the images, you don't have to post them all here. It's a lot of work to upload anything more than a few photos to the forums.

There's a great variety of Cracker Jack items, some a hundred years old, and a few as recent as last year. I was hopping to find some Carey Cloud Cracker Jack pieces, but didn't see any. So much for finding the elusive nodding head elephant and leopard.

There's even some in the collection that aren't Cracker Jack, but are still interesting. Below of a couple of photos, and a link to the website that has info on them.

epankow wrote: By chance did anything intrigue you that you may have seen on here? Just curious as to see what people are drawn to.

I don't collect the Cracker Jack Bear postcards, but I always love seeing them. For me they were symbols of Cracker Jack before Sailor Jack and Bingo came along. Those bears were always doing something fun, flying in airships, going over Niagara Falls, juggling while riding elephants, and other fun things.

epankow wrote: By chance did anything intrigue you that you may have seen on here? Just curious as to see what people are drawn to.

I don't collect the Cracker Jack Bear postcards, but I always love seeing them. For me they were symbols of Cracker Jack before Sailor Jack and Bingo came along. Those bears were always doing something fun, flying in airships, going over Niagara Falls, juggling while riding elephants, and other fun things.

I will say I've been drawn to a whole lot of the really old stuff(roughly 1930's and earlier). The way they made things and the way the art looked was just so different to how things are now. The sad thing was you could start to tell as things came to present times the cheaper the quality was. At least that's my opinion.

This is a cool collection of prizes. It would be great to see it in person. I see a lot of items that I know to be Cracker Jack. And there are many that are not Cracker Jack. Paper and metal prizes are outside of my main area of interest, so I will let others address those. I can address plastic items.

1. The following photos have items that were NOT likely found in packages of Cracker Jack. (I used to say "They are NOT Cracker Jack" but I have occasionally been found to be wrong.) Many of the items you have are cereal prizes, dime store toys, gum machine charms, cake decorations, and other things that might resemble Cracker Jack prizes but have no connection with Cracker Jack. All are cool.
Photos 553, 554, 555, 556, 557, 551, 552, 533 (comic book flats), 538 (cereal prizes), 539, 523, 524, 525, 526, 527 (gum machine prizes), 528 (gum machine prizes), 529, 530-532 (cereal flats), 513, 515, 516, 517, 522, 508, 509, 510, and 512 are not Cracker Jack.

2. The following photos have many items that were NOT likely found in packages of Cracker Jack.
Photo 558, 514.

ADDITIONALLY (To Everyone) - I would be particularly interested in knowing where this group of tracing stencils comes from - photo 551. They look like possibly cereal prizes (but they are not R&L because they are too small), or maybe even party favors.

HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS ON SELLING THIS COLLECTION:
1. Do not accept appraisal for any part of this collection by photo. No one will be able to judge the condition of these items without handling them. Do you really want an appraisal? The only reason I would ever get a collection professionally appraised is if I were going to insure it. Otherwise, you really just want to know how to liquidate the items. An appraisal will not help you with that.
2. The easiest way to sell items like this is through a big auction house. Downside: They will pick the top items they want to sell, and you will still be stuck with a houseful of stuff that you still have to figure out how to get rid of. Also, small items and collections of small items will generally demand selling fees of 25 percent or more. Upside: If you sell through a company that specializes in toys, they will often get higher prices for items they sell, because they have the customer base.
3. The fastest way to deal with it is to find a reputable toy dealer who can buy the whole lot. Upside: You don't have to spend a lot of time dealing with it. Downside: You will get 10-30 percent of retail value at best, because any dealer will base their offer for the whole collection on only the items they know they can sell the quickest. (I would guess that most dealers are going to go for only the Cracker Jack prizes and collectibles, and they would not make an offer on the rest.)
4. You can sell at toy, antique shows or flea markets. Upside: It is a lot of fun to meet the person you are selling your items to. Downside: It is a lot of work to unpack and repack a load of stuff every weekend, not to mention gas prices to travel to shows. And it is probably the slowest way to get rid of volumes of stuff. HOWEVER: I noticed that you have quite a few duplicates in your photos. You might take some duplicates to a local toy show and "shop them" to dealers who have similar items for sale. They will pay you a wholesale price, but it might be a way to get a feel for selling toys, and you might make a contact who can give you additional ideas about how to sell your collection. Many "dealers" at toy shows are collectors working to help finance their collection and to be in a position to add new things to their own collections with a "dealers advantage."
5. A note on commission sales: THINK CAREFULLY before accepting an offer to sell your items for you on commission, because even if you find a trustworthy show dealer (or even an antique store or mall), it will still take a long, long time to sell them -- and it may take a long time to get payment for your cut of items that do sell. I made real money at flea markets in the 1980s and antique malls in the early 1990's, but nowadays it is really hard to make money in those venues, mostly because it is so much more convenient to buy and sell on eBay at home.
6. If you have five years to deal with it, then start listing the collection on eBay (smaller lots for older items, larger lots for newer items) and let the general public decide how much it's worth. Downside: This will become your second job, and will take a lot of time. Also, you have to pay 25 to 30 percent in fees to eBay and PayPal (about the same as an auction house). Upside: You will most likely realize more money than any other method over the entire collection, and you will be able to sell most everything you have eventually. Also, it might be a way to start a part-time business for your whole family to participate in that you might choose to continue into the future. (By the time you sell several thousand mini promotional toys, you will be an expert on running a business on eBay.)
6. If you want to wait a year, you could take your collection to the next CJCA convention. (I guess they will have one next June.) And you can sell parts of your collection to some of the top Cracker Jack collectors in the world. (I have some experience with that too.)

Hope this is helpful information. Much of this last part is brainstorming and might need some fine tuning. Let me know if you have any questions.

Hey Luke! It might be fun to do a seminar about selling on eBay at the CJCA convention. But I don't know if there would be that much interest. Most collectors have at least some experience buying on eBay, but I think many save their "sell" items for the convention.